Guardian Cryptic 27,749 by Nutmeg

by

Nutmeg provides this morning’s Guardian challenge.

This was Nutmeg at her best – not maybe as difficult as she sometimes can be, but concise clues, a range of devices used, and a few things learned along the way ( I had never heard of a gemsbok,a nd it was interesting to read a bit about Wesker, whose name I knew, although I would have been unable to tell you anything about him).

Thanks, Nutmeg.

Across
1 ENDURED Bore finished touring ancient city (7)
ENDED (“finished”) touring UR (“ancient city”)
5 CLINKER Associate’s in games area, back burning waste (7)
LINK (“associate”) in <=REC (‘games area”, back)

Clinker is the residue left after burning something
9 HISTORIC PRESENT Inept choristers horribly tense (8,7)
*(inept choristers)

The historic present is a tense used when describing events in the present tense but which happened in the past.
10 LEAVE Don’t take holiday (5)
Double definition
11 MINELAYER Drunken men docked in early naval vessel (9)
*(me in early) where ME is me(n) docked
12 SET PIECES Men on TV co-ordinated manoeuvres (3,6)
PIECES (“men” in chess) on [TV] SET
14 COUPE Car from Triumph, last of range (5)
COUP (“trimuph”) + [last of] (rang)E
15 GLEAN Pick up fish, placing first two at the rear (5)
ANGLE (“fish”) with its first two placed at the rear would become GLE-AN
16 UPWARDS OF Appearing for trial, blocks all but last over (7,2)
UP (in court, so “appearing for trial”) + WARDS OF(f) “blocks” all but last)
18 MEAT EATER Carnivore satisfied having consumed a meal? I’m not sure (4,5)
MET (“satisfied”) having consumed A TEA (“a meal”) + ER (sound made while hesitating, so “I’m not sure”) – thanks for noting the typo, thinc@2
21 FLING I must quit office job, being shy (5)
I must quit F(i)LING (“office job”)
22 BRICKS-AND-MORTAR Conventionally-run snack bar torrid storm ultimately demolished (6-3-6)
*(snack bar torrid m) where the M is (stor)M [ultimately]
23 KINDRED Family type with left-wing tendencies (7)
KIND (“type”) + RED (“with left-wing tendencies”)
24 SYRINGE Yankee enthralled by singer playing instrument (7)
Y (yankee) enthralled by *(singer)
Down
1 EXHALES Once vigorous son is certainly not inspiring (7)
EX (“once”) + HALE (“healthy”) + S (son)
2 DISTANT RELATION Reserved account, one not in my own branch? (7,8)
DISTANT (“reserved”) + RELATION (“account”)
3 RHODESIAN Danish ore, possibly coming from former colony (9)
*(danish ore)
4 DEISM Fundamental belief in Humberside is minimal (5)
Hidden in “humbersiDE IS Minimal”
5 COPING SAW Maxim for holding one’s own hand tool? (6,3)
COPING (“holding one’s own”) + SAW (“maxim”)
6 IDEAL Utopia‘s international trade (5)
I (international) DEAL (“trade”)
7 KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON Calm down and don’t put too much money on that horse! (4,4,5,2)
If you bet a lot, you could be said to be “putting your shirt on it”.
8 RETIREE Boundless trees chopped by weary pensioner (7)
[boundless] (t)REE(s) chopped by TIRE (“weary”)
13 COURT CARD King, say, to go out with queen in rascal’s clutches (5,4)
COURT (“to go out with”) + R (regina, so “queen”) in CAD (“rascal”)
14 CORNFLOUR Sauce ingredient regularly ran, if stored in shade (9)
[regularly] R(a)NIi)F stored in COLOUR (“shade”)
15 GEMSBOK Rocks acceptable as shelter for black oryx (7)
GEMS (“rocks”) + OK (“acceptable”) as shelter for B (black)

A gemsbok is a lrge South African oryx.
17 FIG TREE Bush in garden providing very early cover? (3,4)
According to the Bible, Adam and Eve used fig leaves to cover their nakedness.
19 ESKER Playwright leaving behind western ridge (5)
(w)ESKER [leaving behind W(estern)]

Arnold Wesker (1932-2016) was an English dramatist, whose plays included Chicken Soup with Barley and Roots.

An esker is a long ridge of stratified grit or sand normally formed by glaciation.
20 RIDES Caesar’s last day in Rome goes on (5)
(Caesa)R[s’ last] + IDES (“day in Rome” as in “the ides of March” when Caesar was asssassinated)

*anagram

54 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,749 by Nutmeg”

  1. Apologies as I did not have the opportunity to comment yesterday. Completed with all parsed for the second day running. Loved both offerings, from the Spider and the Spice, and thanks to both bloggers whose help for once I did not need.

  4. Great stuff as usual from Nutmeg, but the clue for 1a (ENDURED) didn’t seem right to me: surely “I endured it”, whereas “It was a bore”. Loved COPING SAW and SYRINGE. Many thanks to N & l.

  6. Thanks, Loonapick. Fairly easy but fun, I thought. You’ve inadvertently left out the parsing of 11a, which I think is an anagram of ME[n] IN EARLY.

  8. Thanks Nutmeg and Loonapick.  I particularly liked 21a FLING which raised a smile.

    The HISTORIC PRESENT is often used by contributors to the radio show “In Our Time” – for example “So Harold is waiting for William to invade…”.  (They also start lots of sentences with the word “so”.)  Some people like it, some people hate it.

  9. A very pleasant start to the day. Gemsbok and Esker were also unknowns for me, but readily gettable from the wordplay.

  10. Put my shirt on ETRURIA with the available crossers, which held me up in the NW. Misparsed RIDES as ides for Caesar’s last day plus r for Rome which I thought unsatisfactory until Mrs Job put me right. Otherwise went through fairly smoothly and enjoyed it, especially CORNFLOUR. Thanks to setter and blogger and now for today’s daunting joblist.

  11. The tense I always knew as present historic. I remember a few bits physical geog from long ago, eg terminal moraine, but not esker, and never heard of Wesker, so a guess and look up. Otherwise a gentle midweek stroll. Liked clinker, upwards of, and coping saw. Probably wouldn’t think of syringe as an instrument, the merest quibletino. Thanks Nutmeg and Loonapick.

  12. I thought this a much better puzzle than yesterday’s Arachne. But it seems Arachne can do no wrong and is praised to the skies , while i think she’s gone off the boil of late. Go Nutmeg!

  13. I didn’t know “conventionally run” as a synonym for BRICKS AND MORTAR – a physical as opposed to an online shop, maybe, but no wider application.

    Apart from rashly putting in FIG LEAF instead of TREE, I didn’t find this as tough as Nutmeg can be. Remembered ESKER from ancient geography lessons and GEMSBOK from a safari holiday in South Africa where we met more “boks” than I ever imagined existed.

  14. Thanks, loonapick and Nutmeg – another beautifully-crafted puzzle, which I really enjoyed.

    I didn’t know ESKER but the crossers were all there and I did know Wesker, so no problem there. Another new [for me] antelope – and I’ve already forgotten last week’s! [That’s the way it goes these days, of course: I can remember Hamlet’s soliloquies from A Level but …]

    I loved the inept choristers in 9ac and other favourites were UPWARDS OF, FLING and RIDES.

     

  22. Pretty straight-forward, except 19dn was “Take a W from the name of an obscure playwright to give an obscure name for a type of ridge’.

  23. Yeah, crisp satisfying crossword this. We’ve definitely had gemsbok before. Love the word oryx. 5 down made me smile. Paddle your own canoe?
    Arnold Wesker was still pretty voguish when I was a boy. I recall culinary titles on dad’s shelves. Chicken Soup with Barley, Chips with Everything, The Kitchen…I imagined he was a chef!Thanks Nutmeg and loonapick

  25. Thanks both,
    Strangely, I found it hard to get going because I kept looking for obscure solutions rather than simpler ones. Didn’t know esker but guessed it anyway. As usual, one couldn’t tell whether it should be ‘your’ or ‘one’s’ in 7d until you got a crosser.

  27. Thanks to loonapick and Nutmeg – and also to Gert Bycee @7 for the additional explanation of 1a. Not that I hadn’t thought of “bore” as a verb, just that I was having trouble reconciling “They bore me” with “They endured me”. For a moment my enjoyment was disturbed by the thought that the Spice Girl was losing her touch, but glad to see it isn’t so.

  29. Thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick. Another very enjoyable puzzle with lots of nice clues. For some reason got a bit bogged down in the SW, but cannot for the life of me think why now. Learnt a couple of new words (already mentioned elsewhere) and I liked upwards of, fling and fig tree. A steady solve for me , and thanks again to Nutmeg and loonapick.

  30. Another excellent puzzle to follow yesterday’s. I set off apace but was stumped by several on the rhs for some time. Lots of ticks again with FLING being the one I’ll pick out – concise, misleading definition and obvious when you see the answer. I had the same query with BORE at first but knew it would be my failure to read the the clue correctly and not dodgy setting.
    Thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick.

  32. Thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick

    Nothing much to add about an enjoyable solve.

    Sad to see that Arnold Wesker has been somewhat forgotten.  His fame came early, which may have played a part.  I met him when I was living in Cologne in the early 80s and he came to give a most entertaining talk at the British Council.

  33. Thanks Nutmeg I  enjoyed this although I found it harder apparently that most of those commenting here; so, many thanks to loonapick for a number of insights.   Rewolf @12.  I agree Arachne can do no wrong but that is because she consistently comes up with great crosswords.  But, really aren’t we just lucky to have these two ladies setting on consecutive days with perhaps a Philistine to come and maybe a Picaroon.  I just thank my lucky stars that the Guardian has such a plethora of fine setters to entertain us.  I for one will not be complaining any time soon, and that will be the case if a Vlad and an Enigmatist come along and defeat me completely: vive la différence!!

  34. Bit slow getting it finished today as had to go out for lunch with someone.

    Didn’t know ESKER but did know the Welsh esgair (there was a well-know song Esgair Llyn) so guessed what must be the English form.  Never heard of the playwright, alas.

    Liked MEATEATER and FLING.

    Like others, didn’t feel it was as difficult as some Nutmegs have been ..

    Thanks Nutmeg and loonapick.

  35. Brilliant as ever – thanks Nutmeg!

    Is there a German fem. word for ‘the surface-meister’, I wonder?  Nutmeg is surely certain of at least a podium place in any such competition and is in the Top Spot, IMHO.  I hear even the speed-merchant solvers go back over her puzzles to enjoy the Surfaces after finishing – the ultimate compliment, I reckon …

    Thanks again – superb!

  36. Thanks Nutmeg and loonapick

    grantinfreo / Howard March

    My >40yo SOED defines syringe as “A small cylindrical instrument…”; my much more recent eChambers has similar.

  37. grantinfreo @11, Howard March @28

    Chambers first definition of ‘instrument’ is “a tool or utensil”. I do not think this shows a poor grasp of English.

  38. Encota@35: Having browsed around I can offer Oberflächengestaltungsexpertin – would that do? It’s suitably long and a possible German compound, though I’ve never seen it before.

    Couldn’t finish this but still admired the skill involved. Many thanks Nutmeg and loonapick.

  39. Nice one from Nutmeg!  Many fine surfaces combined with clever wordplay, which made for a fun solve.  I knew ESKER but needed to Google-confirm Wesker (even though the clueing clearly called for that to be the playwright’s name), and I also had an enjoyable side excursion reading about the historic present tense after solving 9ac.  I was amused to see that the fifth column read RHODESIAN ESKER, aka Rhodesian ridge, which made me think of the well known dog breed.  (But of course there was no “back”, notwithstanding that there was a nearby BOK.)  I believe it has been mentioned in this forum before, but here in the US we use the term “face card” instead of COURT CARD, so I was held up on 13dn until I could get enough crossers to remember the UK term.  My favorites today included KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON, EXHALES, LEAVE, and GLEAN. 

    Many thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick and the other commenters.

  40. A great crossword – it made my day. GEMSBOK and ESKER were new to me, but, as I say from time to time regarding Pasquale’s puzzles (for example), I like to learn a bit as I go.
    It was interesting to read the comparisons between this crossword and yesterday’s, and between these two setters. While both puzzles are fresh in my memory, I have to say that I thought there was nothing between them regarding the skilful construction of the clues (the quality I most appreciate), but I found the clues today clearer than yesterday’s, in general, and the surfaces a little better too.
    But that is only this week’s experience! These are two top setters, and I look forward to their next offerings.
    Thanks today to Nutmeg and loonapick.

  41. Well said S Panza @33. Two different cuisines; two exceptional chefs.

    Today the LH side went in steadily but a couple on the RH ultimately defeated me. But so much to admire and a great learning exercise for me. Thanks to Nutmeg and loonapick. A great puzzle and a wonderfully helpful blog.

  42. Loved the puzzle too. And thanks all.

    1d. I can’t find Utopia meaning ideal – UtopiaN for sure.

    6d. And I also can’t wrap my head around exhaleS; exhalING makes more sense to me.

  43. Liked this but got bogged down thanks to bungling in RETIRED instead of the- in retrospect- obvious RETIREE. I remember Arnold Wesker so ESKER wasn’t a problem but I did look it up. I got HISTORIC PRESENT quite quickly thanks,I think,to the use Hilary Mantel made of it in Wolf Hall. I had heard of GEMSBOK but I can’t remember in what context. I expect it was a crossword.
    Thanks Nutmeg.

  44. I think the last antelope we had was also from Nutmeg – BONGO @ 27,737. I commented then that the list of names of the LNER B1 locomotives was a good source of antelope names, and sure enough GEMSBOK is there (no. 61020 under BR). Can Nutmeg have a secret trainspotting past?

    As to comparisons with yesterday’s Arachne, I found this rather easier, with (I think) smoother and more natural surfaces. Apart from some hesitation over BORE I found the parsing straightforward. But as has been said comparisons are odorous and we are very lucky to have two such model setters on the roster.

  45. I think I was stuck on young fish from yesterday, but I though  (until I looked it up just now) that an esker couldn’t be a ridge because it was a young eel.  It’s not, that’s an elver.

    Eileen, we’ve had a mini-herd of antelopes this barely begun year: BONGO (Feb 6, Nutmeg), WILDEBEEST (Jan 10, Nutmeg) and now GEMSBOK.  In earlier times we had DIK-DIK (March 1, 2014, Paul) and ELAND (July 3, 2015, Pasquale) as well as Eland as a part of a word.  That got me to the bottom of the google page and I stopped.

    I wanted to know if there was a more proper collective noun for antelope than herd, so I looked that up too, and found out:

    Antelopes comprise a wastebasket taxon (miscellaneous group) within the family Bovidae, encompassing those Old World species that are not cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, or goats; even so,antelope are generally more deer-like than other bovids. A group of antelope is called a herd.

    A wastebasket taxon — now there’s a new term!

    But wait — “O give me a home where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the antelope play …”  Whaddya mean Old World species?  Turns out that the North American “antelope” is the pronghorn, which doesn’t belong to the  bovids but to the antilocapridae.

    That sounds like a cross between an antelope and a goat, and brings to mind the jackalope, an alleged cross between an antelope and a jack rabbit.  It looks like a rabbit with antlers, and  its habitat is photographs on postcards for sale in Western souvenir shops.

  47. Thanks to loonapick and Nutmeg

    In common with others here it was a treat to have two such fine setters in a row. For me Arachne just about has the edge on surfaces, but perhaps Nutmeg brings a little more variety of clueing – whatever, I’m dancing on the point of a needle.

    To Lord Jim @8 I would say:

    So, I, like, hate it, (em)phatically

    and  to Tonevr @42; those two gave me pause for a while but in the end I think IDEAL can be UTOPIA in the nounal sense (if a little clunky), and 1d works by being allusive rather than a straight definition swap.

    I knew GEMSBOK and ESKER, but from what near dormant, festering corner they were dredged I cannot say

  48. Tonevr @42 and Dansar @47 –

    1d works just as shown in the blog by loonapick:  the definition is the entire underlined clause “is certainly not inspiring”.  For the duration of time that one EXHALES, one is certainly not inspiring.

  49. At risk of lowering the tone, dithering around with the inept choristers revealed the wonderfully pleasing concept of ‘otter chirpiness’ and although I struggled to get a dozen right, I had a fun evening.

  50. Hi Valentine @45 – well, well, so the most recent antelope was also Nutmeg’s [actually two weeks ago, I see now, which is even better excuse for my having forgotten it] and so was the one before that. Three in the space of six weeks is a little disquieting: I have several times expressed my concern regarding Puck’s seeming obsession with armadillos, anteaters et al. 😉

    You really should know better by now, though, than to mention WILDEBEEST – my finger uncontrollably links to this

    Pzinget @49 – I’m just in from choir practice and your comment added to the amusement I noted this morning @14 – thank you!

  51. I most heartily with Rewolf.

    Encota

    “Meisterin” vielleicht

    However I’m fairly sure Arachne would object to being called such a thing. 😉

  54. Maarvarq @ 22: I agree. Obscure words shouldn’t be clued by other words (or names) which are also obscure.

    Everything else was fine, thanks Nutmeg.

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